On 11 March the Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury Team hosted a Paediatric Brain Injury training Day in the Bristol office. The event was organised by Kerry Fifield; Senior Associate and chaired by Martin Pettingell; Partner.

The day raised over £1,300 for children’s charity PACE, which provides innovative education for life for children with sensory motor disorders.

Children’s Heart Surgery Concerns

On a day when an NHS Review into concerns regarding children’s heart surgery at The Leeds General Infirmary has concluded that the specialist unit at Leeds is safe but has provided patients with poor care, parents whose children have died under the care of the United Bristol Healthcare Trust expressed deep concerns at the apparent failure to resolve paediatric cardiac care problems in Bristol. Some fifteen years after the original Bristol Royal Infirmary heart surgery scandal and seven years on from the findings of an independent investigation into failings at the Bristol Children’s Hospital in relation to cardiac care in 2005, the standard of care offered in Bristol remains in question.

Horse Riding Claim Settled

Lee Hart, Partner, has successfully concluded the settlement of a claim by an off duty Police Officer for compensation for injury and financial loss arising from an incident that occurred whilst she was out riding her horse along a country lane in Northamptonshire in November 2012.

Our client was riding her horse with her daughter and friend, who were riding a pony and horse respectively. A Waitrose delivery van approached from the opposite direction and the driver stopped his van as the three horses were pulled into single file at the nearside of the road.

Legal Win in Frozen Sperm Case

Beth Warren has won a High Court case to stop her late husband’s frozen sperm being destroyed.

Beth Warren’s husband, Warren Brewer, had sperm frozen before starting cancer treatment. He signed paperwork saying his wife could use the sperm after his death. The law allows sperm and eggs to be stored for up to 55 years, providing consent is regularly renewed.

Sadly, Mr Brewer died of a brain tumour in February 2012. As a consequence, consent could no longer be renewed. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the regulatory body, ruled that Mr Brewer’s sperm could not be stored beyond April 2015. Mrs Warren, from Birmingham, brought a High Court action to enable her to use the sperm beyond that date.

Clarke Willmott’s Clinical Negligence team to support Together for Short Lives Children’s Palliative Care Conference

Clarke Willmott are proud to be supporting the national Charity Together for Short Lives by exhibiting at their annual children’s palliative care conference which is to take place in Birmingham on 18 March 2014. Chris Thorne, Partner and John Boyle, Solicitor will be attending the Conference. TFSL is the leading UK charity for all children with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions.